Commonwealth Bank-backed fintech Klarna’s Australian foray is starting to look like a disaster for the Swedish buy now pay later startup. Banking Day reports that just two years after its launch, an EY audit of Klarna Australia’s CY2021 performance reveals a net loss of $56 million, with revenue falling 71% on its first year of… Read more »
A review into how to tackle the ongoing problem of de-banking in the fintech sector by the Council of Financial Regulators has come back with four key recommendations for the Australian government that industry lobby group Fintech Australia describes as “a good first step” on the issue. In March, the former Coalition government asked the… Read more »
Sydney fintech Paytron has won the Xccelerate 2022 run by the Commonwealth Bank’s x15ventures, landing a $250,000 SAFE note. Paytron, a full-suite workflows and spend management platform, was chosen from four finalists focus on payments, including Cape, Persollo and YouPay, pitching to the investment committee last night. The deal with x15ventures gives the fintech access… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank’s venture-scaling arm, x15ventures, has selected four payments startups as the finalists for its Xccelerate22 program. The four – Paytron, YouPay, Cape and Persollo – were chosen from 16 fintechs chosen to take part in the Xccelerate Community Day a fortnight ago, going on to take part in a a deep-dive session known as the Pathway to… Read more »
Brisbane cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx has laid off 74 staff in the wake of its merger with share trading platform Superhero in June. Co-CEOs Alex Harper and Ryan Parsons broke the news to the a 320 team at a “townhall” meeting on Wednesday saying that they’d decided to reduce the site of the business in the… Read more »
Sugar Wallet is a New Zealand fintech cofounded by Devrath (Dev) Soni and Sophia Ritchie with a mission to make investment ‘ridiculously simple’ for everyone. “In APAC alone, there are 143 million who can afford investing but continue to primarily save through their bank,” Soni said. “One of the reasons for this is because platforms… Read more »
The 25-year legacy of local payments platform BPAY and US rival PayPal count for little in the fast-moving fintech space with buy-now-pay-later market leader Afterpay now better known by a majority of Australians according to the latest Roy Morgan Digital Payments Report. The report found that 17.5 million Australians aged 14+ (82.8%) are now aware of buy-now-pay-later… Read more »
Global payments platform Visa is reportedly looking at investing in a new in Melbourne fintech Airwallex in a raise worth up to A$290 million in an additional Series E round. Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources “familiar with the matter”, reports that the deal could be done with Airwallex maintaining the A$7.6 billion (US$5.5bn) valuation it had… Read more »
Ticket sales for FinTech Australia’s annual conference, Intersekt 2022, have opened, with the event set to repeat last year’s sellout status. FinTech Australia GM Rehan D’Almeida said this year’s Intersekt promises to be the biggest yet, featuring several international speakers, including the founder and CEO of the UK’s leading finance fintech Swoop, Andrea Reynolds, who… Read more »
Complaints from the fintech sector that some major banks have been slow to get with the program when it comes to open banking have proved true with the competition watchdog slapping a $133,200 fine on the Bank of Queensland. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued the penalty and infringement notice against BoQ for allegedly… Read more »
B2B payments automation provider Monoova has merged with foreign exchange fintech Moneytech FX to build out its cross-border payments offering. The terms of the merger deal were not disclosed, with Moneytech now sitting under the Monoova brand, and headquartered in Sydney with a team of around 70. Monoova cofounder and CEO Christian Westerlind Wigstrom said… Read more »
Money management app Pocketbook will shut down next month after a decade in business. The company, now owned by the embattled ASX-listed BNPL Zip Co., announced yesterday that it will close on August 5. In a note on its website, Pocketbook, which was reportedly used by 800,000 people, did not give a reason for its… Read more »
The news that Volt Bank, the last of the three true Australian neobanks to secure a banking licence, is shutting down sent waves through the banking and fintech community this week. It is the second neobank to return deposits and surrender its banking license after the high profile collapse of Xinja, as well as the… Read more »
The collapse of Volt is sending shockwaves through the fintech sector as startups closely connected to the neobank, such as Parpera, scramble to regroup. The fintech partnered with Volt for banking services, meaning its 500+ small business customers have lost banking, payments and cards functions until a new banking collaborator is found. In a post… Read more »
Neobank Volt has become a victim of tightening investment market announcing it will shut down after struggling to raise capital. The online-only retail bank was the first challenger brand to receive a new banking licence in 2019. A statement posted on its website today announced it is closings all deposit accounts and will hand its… Read more »
‘Have I gone too far?’ How founders can beat their startup demons 
Tassie carbon accounting startup banks $5.3 million Seed round 
Unicorn dehorned: Nasdaq-listed Brisbane EV charging venture Tritium collapses into receivership 
The lessons from Uber, Ola and rideshare’s disruption is that in the end, the consumer still pays 
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
